Abstract
A writing assessment study was conducted in the Fort Worth Independent School District (Texas) in the spring of 1986 as part of a larger program evaluation study of the Writing to Read (WTR) Program. WTR is a computer-based instructional system designed to develop the writing and reading skills of kindergarten and first-grade students. Two types of comparisons were conducted to address the effectiveness of WTR: (1) writing skills of WTR participants with those of students of the same grade level in traditional classrooms; and (2) the writing skills of WTR participants with those of students whose teachers had been trained in Writing Process (WP) instruction. A total of 215 kindergarten and 270 first-grade writing samples were collected. The samples were scored by kindergarten and first-grade teachers. The results indicated no differences between the writing samples of first-grade students in WTR and traditional classes, but first-graders in WP classes scored significantly higher than those in the other two groups. When the scores of kindergarten students in WTR, WP, and traditional classrooms were compared, the WTR students scored highest, WP students next highest, and traditional students scored the lowest. However, the sample selection for this comparison carried some gross limitations. The comparison between writing samples of WTR and traditional kindergartners, which did not have sample selection constraints, indicated no significant differences between the writing scores of these two groups. Appendices include: (1) instructions for collecting writing samples; (2) scoring criteria; and (3) examples of writing samples. (Author/JAZ)
Citation
Naron, N.K. & Elliot, N. Using Young Children's Writing Samples in Program Evaluation. Retrieved August 15, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/137925/.
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